Book Review - Coaching for Performance

For me, the fundamental, must-have coaching text to read when you are embarking on your coaching journey is John Whitmore’s ‘Coaching for Performance’. This was the first book I purchased when looking into the Coaching profession back in 2000. I still refer back to it regularly and, like all great books, I am constantly discovering new concepts, new questions, new perspectives – even to this day. Whitmore presents a comprehensive overview of the GROW model with simple analogies which bring the process to life. Focusing on the key principles of coaching, Coaching for Performance underlines the importance of raising awareness and generating responsibility – providing a range of useful questions essential for all coaches’ toolkits. Don’t be put off by the slightly academic look of the cover design, which reminds me of some of the books I still have following my Psychology degree (I break into a cold sweat just thinking about them!) There's a reason why Coaching for Performance has become an international bestseller since it was first published in 1992. Now in it’s 4th Edition, Coaching for Performance will remind you of the basics of coaching and above all else suggest that coaching is not just something you do with ‘clients’ as part of your ‘job’ but a way of thinking, a way of behaving and a way of being. Kris Robertson